Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I'd rather buy a new paint roller each time I need one than wash out the one that I've used.﻿

The good news is: Jack's room is painted. Done. Finished. Complete!

The even better news is: I loooove the COLOR!!!

It's Horizon by Benjamin Moore (although I had it color matched in Behr paint). It's a light gray with a faint blue hue. Perfect for a little guys beachy bedroom. More on that to come once we get him a big boy bed and I can start having fun decorating! I already know it'll be my favorite room in the house, and the one I'll be most proud of.

On to a "Craigslist steal" / "Intimidating Project" note. I picked up this chair over the weekend for $35. Which is $15 higher than my typical price point of Craigslist finds but well worth it.

What?! You don't like it?! Geesh, rude.

Ok, ok, I don't like it either. At least not with that fabric on it. But, what if... it looked like this?

Stunning, you say?

I know.

So it looks like I better finally open the sewing machine I got for Christmas last year and learn how to use the intimidating little piece of magic to create a lovely slipcover for my not-so-lovely Craigslist find.

Wish me luck. Lots of it.

And, tips are welcome and appreciated.

Not the kind you'd give to someone for bringing you delicious food, serving you an adult beverage, or making your favorite 'cup of joe'.

For months now, I've had tons of things ready to go into Jack's "big boy" room. Bedding, accessories, a headboard from Craigslist waiting to be painted, and a pretty good idea of the direction I want to take it. The problem? Well, apparently it's a bigger one than I even anticipated, and that means it's pretty big because I have delayed his room makeover for one reason. Paint. Such a simple word isn't it? Simple until you pick out a swatch, fall in love with it at the home improvement store, race home to get it up on the walls then discover it's all wrong! I didn't do that with Jack's room, but can you tell I've done it before? It's soooo stressful to me. So, I knew this time I'd do it the "safe" way. Tester size samples first, then buy the gallon(s) I'd need. However, I'm trying to find the rigth shade of (the dreaded) GRAY. It's not easy. I thought after seeing a few shades of gray look beautiful in other bloggers homes, I was ready to tackle finding the perfect shade for us. Wrong. I'm not ready. I'm aggravated. Stressed. And eager to paint! Instead, this is what I'm dealing with:

You can't even tell how bad it is in that photo. It's bad. Most of them look purple and obviously any hue of purple is unwelcome in the little guy's room. ﻿I can't even recall what color name each of those stripes are anymore but I did try a few I've seen on popular blogs.

Since I didn't use a large enough font and am completely frustrated with anything and everything involved in figuring out a paint color, I'll just list them from top to bottom.﻿

*note: that wall color is Windham by Pratt & Lambert which again due to the low light in Jack's room is way too dark for us to use. :( :(

So you get the idea. A light, true gray, to show slight contrast against white trim and white furniture. Right now I think I'm leaning toward using "Horizon" by Benjamin Moore since it's light, and NOT PURPLE! If anything it has a blueish hue and I have various shades of blue accessories to use so it would work.

I'm signing off to tape off around the trim and window then I'm going to get ready to head out to buy paint. So anyone who has opinions and recommendations, share quickly! I need all the help I can get and I know here is the best place to find it! :)

*EDITED TO ADD*:

I went with Horizon by Benjamin Moore, thanks to a quick email back from Maria who had used the Martha Stewart color "Grap Pearl" in her home but agreed it could be too dark for a room with only one window, and without knowing I was considering it, mentioned liking Horizon. So, that's what I have two gallons of waiting to be opened. Juast as soon as I get back from Home Depot with a "sureline edger" in hopes of making "cutting in" go ALOT quicker. Once the little guy is in bed (my bed since I'll be painting his room), I'll have paint roller in hand transforming his cream walls to a lovely gray. Wish me luck!

Monday, December 13, 2010

As of late I've been trying to simplify everything in my life. So when I saw that Torri was offering her old blog design for *insert magic word here* free, I just knew my blog should have a fresh new look and be simplified along with everything else. Torri is the sister of Holly whom you all already know I am a huge fan of, and she's just as stunning and just as sweet. Lucky parents those ladies have.

After an 11 hour work day yesterday (gotta love retail in December *sarcasm*) I attempted to install the new blog layout and made a complete mess of it. Soooo, as if sharing the design with me wasn't nice enough, Torri offered to install it for me as well. And, with the way things have been going lately, her simple kindness really brightened my day. Do you love it? If so, this design along with many other "freebies" are available through Torri's blog, Digital Confections. Be sure to tell her I sent you.

While my blog was getting a makeover today, so was the Christmas decor around here. However, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to photograph it all since it made quite a mess. Let's just say that 30 feet of fresh garland and a project involving lots of Martha Stewart glitter will have me busy cleaning this evening. In the meantime, I thought I'd share the photos I was able to capture of my stubborn 3 year old the other day for this years Christmas card. The attempt ended with us both in tears. Him, because he couldn't play on his swingset which was, is, and I'm sure will be for months to come, covered in snow. And me, because I dropped my camera (that I just got for my birthday in May) on the driveway. Luckily, the pictures turned out pretty dang cute and his smile cheered me up.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

While Perfect Imperfection (emphasis on the imperfections) is "under construction" please take the time to view all the beauty one of my favorite new blogs has to offer. Jenni, at House Of White is lovely AND beyond sweet. Not only does she have a gorgeous home, she sent the nicest email trying to help me find the wall color she's used throughout most of her (white) house. Teaser photo below, but you'll have to stop by her blog for pages and pages beautiful images to take tons of inspiration from.

I hope to be back tomorrow with a fresh lovely new blog layout and design (after receiving editing help obviously) and a report on how an effort to make new Christmas stockings out of white burlap is going.